“People need to miss Clarence,” Bruce Springsteen told Rolling Stone magazine recently about his decision to keep the long-running E Street Band going despite the loss of saxophonist Clarence Clemons, one of its most popular members.

When Springsteen brought his Wrecking Ball tour and expanded E Street Band (with a new five-piece horn section) to the sold-out Times Union Center on Monday night, it was clear he was walking a line between carrying on without Clemons and late keyboardist Danny Federici while also honoring their memory.

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The most visible testament to fallen bandmates came at the end of the three-hour show during “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” when Springsteen paused at the line referencing his former sideman: “And the Big Man joined the band.”

The video screen flashed a montage of the saxman to cheers from the crowd, while Clemons’ horn-playing nephew Jake – who’s taken over in part for his uncle – looked up reverently at the rafters.

The emotional tenor was just right: part eulogy, part celebration. For every downside with Springsteen, you could say there’s an upside, too.

During “We Take Care of Our Own,” the second song after set-opener “Badlands,” anger at the erosion of the safety net was turned into an anthem of patriotic pride that reclaims the flag and flips “America the Beautiful” on its head.

On recession-era tune “Wrecking Ball,” another song from the new album, Springsteen softly repeated its chorus of “hard times come and hard times go” like a mantra: a reminder that economic downturns inevitably turn back around.

And during “My City of Ruins,” a song that took on new meaning after its inclusion on his 9/11-themed album, “The Rising,” Springsteen led the crowd in a near-defiant chant of “Come on, rise up,” after referencing his missing band members and saying, “If you’re here and we’re here, then they’re here.”

There was weightiness to the show, as feelings of loss hung heavy. With the spotlight shining solely on him, Springsteen performed a riveting version of hard-luck tune “Downbound Train” that sounded downright harrowing.

He magnanimously played a rare acoustic version of “Janey, Don’t You Lose Heart” by request from a fan in honor of her recently departed mother, Jane – pointing to her at song’s end and looking like he wiped away a tear.

And much of the new material – including Celtic-inflected tunes “Death to My Hometown” and “Shackled and Drawn” and the heavily populist “Jack of All Trades” – had somber, height-of-the-recession messages about economic justice.

But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty of levity and joy to be had, too. Soaked with sweat, bottled water and a fan’s beer by the end of the typically marathon performance, Springsteen once again seemingly defied all signs of aging.

He traded frenzied guitar solos with Steven Van Zandt during “Murder Incorporated,” hopped up and down with an overly exuberant young man out on the floor during “Waiting on a Sunny Day” and cheered on Jake Clemons as he nailed his uncle’s solo on “The Promised Land.”

During a medley of Motown tunes that he first performed at Harlem’s Apollo Theater back in March – the E Street Band’s first full concert after Clemons’ passing – Springsteen stormed out onto the floor, chugged a fan’s beer and then lay on top of the crowd, letting them inch him gently back toward the stage.

He boogied with a fan sporting punk-rock-red hair during “Dancing in the Dark,” contorted himself into an impossibly limber backbend off the microphone before “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” and then fell to his knees on the stage at show’s end.

SECOND OPINIONS:Michael Janairo’sreview and Lori Van Buren’sphotographs at The Times UnionKirsten Ferguson’sreview at Metroland
Excerpt from Brian McElhiney’s review at The Daily Gazette: “Over the decades, Bruce Springsteen has garnered just as many detractors as he has adoring fans. Often the fans are fans and the detractors are detractors for the same reasons — the earnest anthems, the rough-hewn vocals, the similar-sounding songs. But there’s one thing that isn’t up for debate about Springsteen and his E Street Band — their mastery of the arena rock show. Once again, Springsteen and company proved their mettle before a packed house at the Times Union Center Monday night. All of Springsteen’s weaknesses didn’t matter as soon as he began bashing on his trusty Telecaster — the man was born to be onstage. For three whole hours, the energy never let up as the band tore through most of its new album ‘Wrecking Ball,’ old favorites and more than enough surprises to keep even longtime fans out of their seats and dancing.”

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND SET LIST
Badlands
We Take Care of Our Own
Wrecking Ball
Out in the Street
Death to My Hometown
My City of Ruins
Darlington County
Jack of All Trades
Murder Incorporated
Downbound Train
Shackled and Drawn
Waitin’ on a Sunny Day
The Promised Land
Apollo Medley: The Way You Do the Things You Do/634-5789 (the Temptations/Wilson Pickett)
Janey, Don’t You Lose Heart
Backstreets
The Rising
Lonesome Day
We Are Alive
Land of Hope and DreamsENCORES
Thunder Road
Rocky Ground (with Michelle Moore)
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (with video of Clarence Clemons)

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